If there ever was a case of
crushing disappointment, not instant but a day after upon reflection when the
buzz is dwindling and one thinks more level headedly about a film, then Under the Shadow, a Persian language
horror drama set within the Iran-Iraq war in Tehran with politics of the Middle
East seeping through the walls the heroine Shideh (Narges Rashidi) becomes affectively trapped in with her daughter Dorsa
(Avin Manshadi), is a despairing
example when a film doesn't live up to expectations. It's a common habit for
me, unless a film completely sinks itself into my memory both positively and/or
with confusion whether I liked it or not, usually becoming a film I love later
as I appreciate how I had to work with them to gain something from them, that movies
I had an exceptionally positively view on the day before lose their lustre
immediately when it becomes common in hindsight I'd never need to watch them
again. Both obscure films but also critically acclaimed ones, even sacred cows,
can fall for this when even the most scabby of b-flick schlock can have a
greater imprint on my mind in their virtues that make them worth revisiting. However
with Under the Shadow, the problem is entirely what it brings in expectation
through two-thirds of its length until it becomes utterly predictable
supernatural horror.

Shideh is now, in post-revolution
Iran, unable to become a doctor due to being involved in mid-revolution protests.
The entire white elephant of gender inequality in Middle Eastern conservative
values becomes as much a weight that crushes her slowly as the war looming over
her apartment complex is, the later dropping an unexploded bomb in the roof
that starts to cause tenants to leave on mass, the former putting pressure on
her even if it leads to potentially ill advised actions. Adding emotional
complexity, she's far from a saint capable of terrible behaviour even as a
loving mother, like staying in her apartment flat and taking a rational, strict
view of her daughter's belief a jinn is roaming the floors, having stolen her
beloved doll and drawing her closer as her mother's more aggressive, stressed behaviour
pushes her away.

The film starts as a Repulsion (1965) story where the pain
of the real world hurts Shideh as the increased number of supernatural
influence mirrors reality back. In Tehran, she is as much stuck in real life as
in the throes of a supernatural demon of the wind, attempting to flee the home
only to be arrested for not covering her head and forced back home. The stress
of losing her desired goal as a doctor, her husband Iraj (Bobby Naderi) away to help as a doctor in the war and in a flayed
relationship where she feels he looks down at her, feeds the monstrosity
terrorising them in the flat and whole building, bringing promise of the
psychological horror of Japanese cinema but with a decidedly unique viewpoint
in being a film about Middle Eastern modern culture, even if it's set in the
eighties with Jane Fonda workout videotapes, and at first emphasising both
drama which tackles real world issues and using a figure, the jinn of that
culture than using a cliché from Western horror cinema.

However with this complex
portrayal of politics, culture and gender in mind, alongside a slow burn pace
which drags out the discomfort of the jinn terrorising her and her daughter in
subtle ways, it's dismaying to find that the film becomes a generic
supernatural horror movie in the Hollywood template with constant jump scares
and emphasis on CGI in the finale. It feels like an entire page is ignored, when
a mythological creature as significant in Arabic and Islamic culture like a jinn,
unique to that culture with countless versions told and with complexity to
their behaviour in said stories, is reduced to a faceless ghost under a sheet. That
it's a horror film first, subtext between the lines, is worst in seeing how
what is such a quietly put together, well paced story which drip feds jump
scares one at a time becomes reduced to the jinn chasing the central characters
through the house without any sense of emotional resolution or complexity, not
functioning as a horror movie trying to be more serious as a result. What started
off as a buzz liking the movie became hollow as it didn't live up to being a
more distinct film making its own direction with its own style and issues to
tackle, instead latching onto clichés as its centre it could've done without. Particularly
as someone who wishes to see films from all around the world especially in
horror, even if this is a UK production shot in Jordan, this is a heart
breaking result when non-English, non-European interpretations of even simple
ghost stories is something we are in dire need of especially now for a sense of
global interaction as cineastes.

From http://player.bfi.org.uk//media/images/stills/film/10090/
b0b8dcdd8222b22c985a1104c4c02164-1000x563.jpg

No comments:

Post a Comment

"I could go on for hours with more examples. The list is endless. You probably never gave it a thought, but all great films, without exception, contain an important element of no reason. And you know why? Because life itself is filled with no reason." - Rubber (2010)

About Me

I am 28 years old and hail from England. For the last few years I have been a growing fan of cinema and have decided to take the next step into blogging about it and any other tangents that about the things I'm interested in I get onto.